Back-up Plan
by cowardly-lioness
Summary: Michael breaks Lincoln out right before the date of the execution...but Michael himself isn't able to escape. What happened? More importantly, what will happen now that he needs a new escape plan - and fast! Other 'left behind' inmates are not too pleased with him, Bellick's on a witch hunt to find out who is responsible for the escape and Sara is starting to see through his lies.
1. Chapter 1

Of course she'd heard the news. Everyone in Fox River had been excitedly recounting their own version of the famed "Great Escape". And why shouldn't they be? There wasn't much else to talk about, and more importantly _no one had done it before_. Sure, in her three years working there, Dr. Tancredi had heard of a few failed attempts. Some planned, some spontaneous. Probably the latter just couldn't handle it anymore. After all, Fox River was no summer camp. Men like Theodore Bagwell and other dangerous cons were incarcerated here – including the ones that had tried to get to her during the riot. She shuddered involuntarily at the memory. Thank God Michael – _Mr. Scofield , _she corrected herself – had been there to prevent what she was sure would have been an incredibly traumatic experience, had she even survived it. Thoughts of Scofield brought her back to the present, as she put away her last patient's file and headed out of the infirmary to Pope's office for the_ third_ time that day.

She noticed that his secretary had left. It was too late in the day to be a lunch break, but Sara could hardly blame her. The voices coming from Pope's office were highly confrontational. She knew how Bellick could get when he was angry, but even she had never heard him this irate. Pope too was trying hard to keep his voice even, though she could tell he was struggling, something which didn't happen often. For the warden of a maximum-security prison, he rarely raised his voice. But then, since he was the warden of a maximum-security prison, he was sure to be quite upset that prisoners had escaped under his nose.

She heard some other unfamiliar voices too. Probably law enforcement or government. The breakout on its own warranted investigation, but the fact that a death row inmate had escaped so near to his execution date… It was no wonder the whole state was in an uproar. Unsurprisingly the only voice she didn't hear was her patient's. No doubt he was sitting there calmly, saying little, and infuriating Bellick all the more for doing so. She smiled briefly at that thought. Bellick had been nice to her once upon a time, but now that he was Captain he was rude and entitled and she was sure he was responsible for some of the injuries she treated the patients for.

_Now or never_, she thought. Taking a deep breath, Sara knocked loudly on Pope's door. The voices stopped abruptly, but she wasn't invited in. She opened the door anyway, tired of having been refused entry twice already today.

"Excuse me, sir." She addressed Pope.

"Dr. Tancredi, now's not the time."

Losing her patience, she responded: "Actually, now **is **the time. Two hours ago was the time. Mr. Scofield needs his insulin now or he risks going into a coma, in which case you might have some trouble continuing your interrogation."

"Whoa, easy there Doc," muttered Bellick.

Henry Pope considered his options: "Yes, alright. Everyone else stay and we can re-evaluate what we know and where Scofield stands in all of this and then we'll arrange for the appropriate actions."

At this Michael didn't hesitate to hop up from the chair he had been sitting in opposite Pope and follow Sara out. As he was closing the door behind him, they heard Bellick's voice pipe up:

"As long as by 'appropriate actions' you mean disciplining him until the point of-"

"That sounds ominous," Michael said. For how much trouble in, he didn't seem too concerned though. Not for the first time she wondered if his cool demeanor was just a façade, and he was really just trying to keep it together for as long as he could in this place.

"Michael, I don't know what you've done, but you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble. They're saying you helped Lincoln and the others escape." She didn't look at him. She was sure he wouldn't let anything slip regardless but she still didn't want to take the chance that her theory might be confirmed just by the look on his face. She really hoped he wasn't involved, he'd been a trouble-magnet since day one and this was the worst by far.

"And what do you think, Dr. Tancredi?" He'd stepped in front of her to open the door to the room but turned to face her before she could get through the door.

She looked up at him, briefly, and shook her head. "Honestly Michael, you've had more injuries in your short time here than any other prisoner. Can't be a coincidence." She brushed past him into the room, grabbed his insulin shot and sat down.

"Maybe I just like having an excuse to see you." He sat down in the chair facing her and gave her that damned smug look of his.

She couldn't help grinning. He always had to have some kind of line. But that didn't mean she didn't enjoy them…

"Nice try, you see me every day. This charm of yours is what makes me so suspicious. So no, it wouldn't surprise me if you had a hand in Lincoln's escape."

"Really? And I just stayed behind for kicks?"

She stopped writing in his chart and looked up at him. They stared at each other in a kind of stalemate. Michael knew Sara was suspicious but also knew he had her there. She couldn't think of anything to say in response, so she took advantage of the sudden silence and gave him his insulin injection.

"Thank you, by the way." She pressed the cotton ball to his arm and looked up in surprise.

"For what?"

"For giving me a break from the Royal Inquisition."

She cracked a smile. She rolled her chair over to the biohazard bin and tossed the needle in.

"Technically it's still going on in your absence. But now you won't even be there to defend yourself." She hated that she couldn't hide the concern in her voice. He noticed and shot her a genuine smile.

"Still, I'd much rather be here with you then in there"

She had to suppress a smile as one of the COs knocked on the door and beckoned to Michael.

"Time to face the gallows, wish me luck Doc!" He winked and turned to leave, just missing the blush that crept up on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

Michael followed the CO out of the infirmary. He was a rookie officer_, 'Paulson_' if he was reading the nametag correctly: he was so tired from being up all night he could hardly see straight.Michael thought sadly that this was probably who'd replaced the CO that T-Bag had killed during the riot.

"So what's the verdict then?" He asked, since Paulson didn't seem to be very forthcoming with the information.

"None yet. It's yard time so they're inspecting every square inch of your cell. So you're gonna wait in the yard with the other inmates until they're done."

He had of course anticipated as much and was confident that nothing incriminating would be found in his cell. He was, however, quite worried about 'yard time' with his fellow inmates. He'd been in the relative safety of Pope's office since the breakout was discovered late last night.

Now he'd have to come face to face with -

"Pretty! So glad I get to see your lovely face again. Just made my day a helluva lot brighter."

Paulson walked away as though he couldn't get out of the yard fast enough. He probably didn't want to spend any more time around T-Bag than was strictly necessary. Michael could hardly blame him.

"I almost feel like I'm walking on sunshine. Though you won't be walking once I'm done with you. I can guaran-damn-tee you that, boy!"

"T-bag, you come near me-"

"You'll what, pretty boy? You've lost all your bargaining chips. No more Abruzzi, no more friends, no more escape hatch in your cell..."

He was right, and Michael had known this was going to happen, but for once in his life hadn't been prepared.

"Will you be quiet? If I go down for this, I'm taking you with me. How exactly were you planning on explaining your knowledge of said 'escape hatch' without drawing attention to yourself?"

"Fine then. Since we have a mutual interest in keeping our prior escape plans hush-hush, I'll pipe down. But we both know you're not sticking around very much longer and you're taking me with you when you go. And before you say no, keep in mind: I'll make you wish every day until we're out of here that you'd busted me out with Big Bro. So what do you say, partner?"

"T-bag, you and I and the whole world knows this is the best place for you. If I'd let you go with Linc you'd already be terrorizing someone by now."

"Prob-a-bly. But now I'll just have to make do with terrorizing someone here instead. Hmm, now who could that be?"

At this Bagwell shoved Michael against the prison wall and his gang of rag-tag rapists closed in on him.

"We have to make this quick, before the guards notice." One of his guys said. Michael belatedly realized that there were more inmates and much fewer guards in the yard today because PI had been suspended and because most of the guards wanted to participate in the investigation of Michael's cell.

Bagwell wrapped his hands around his throat, pressing down hard. Michael thrashed and flailed but it was all in vain because someone was doing a very good job of restraining him. As his body mourned its supply of oxygen, he felt his lungs burning, his vision blurring and panic started to set in.

"Shh shh shh. Don't worry that pretty little head of yours. We have many more days of fun ahead until we hit the road, partner."

Michael had started to lose his grip on reality at that point but he thinks T-bag was saying something like: "and this is only the beginning" before he blacked out.


End file.
